Monday, February 24, 2014
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
GETTING TO KNOW GOD
Everyone who is honest with him or herself knows that there is a God. But who God is, no man can know by nature. But there is a way of getting acquainted with God. That way is this: That through Holy Scripture, one learns to know Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That is the only way of getting acquainted with the one, true God, as Jesus Christ Himself tells us first in John 12:45 by saying, "And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me." And then in John 14:9 where He says, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
Since one becomes acquainted with God by getting acquainted with Jesus Christ, it stands to reason that the better one knows Jesus Christ, the better one knows God. So let us get still more and better acquainted with Jesus Christ our Savior. The one who helps us in this undertaking is the Evangelist John, the inspired writer of the fourth Gospel. He is qualified to help us in this respect because he himself knew Christ Jesus the Savior about as well as any person ever knew Jesus. He was the Lord's most intimate friend and companion. He was one of the three who saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, the one who rested on Jesus' bosom at the Last Supper, and the one who stood under the cross and saw Jesus die to pay for the sins of the world.
And what kind of Savior does John introduce to us? He shows us that Jesus is a beautiful Savior who brings joy to the heart, helps us in time of need, temporally and spiritually, in this world and the next.
Fair are the meadows,
Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flowers of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer;
He makes our sorrowing spirit sing.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 657:2)
